Villagers' Performance
Southern Rural Newspaper (Reporter Chen Quanrun) - There is a group of villagers who either farm at home or work outside for their livelihood, and are forced to leave their hometowns. But every Spring Festival, they all return home from all directions not only to reunite with their families but also to perform in a village version of the Chinese New Year's Gala (hereafter referred to as "Spring Festival Gala").
Since 2007, every year on the second day of the first lunar month from 7:30 PM to 11:30 PM, it has become the "Spring Festival Gala" time for Xiaoyang Town, Xuzhen County, in the small village of Xiaosu. On this night, in this small village, the villagers are both actors and audience members. On the temporary stage, they sing and dance freely, casting aside the hardships of the past year and spreading New Year blessings.
As one of the designers and planners of Xiaosu Village's Spring Festival Gala, Huang Lihai describes the villagers' spirit of self-entertainment like this: "Without the pursuit of beauty, rural life would become barren. Everyone exchanges New Year greetings, letting the spring breeze ripple through our hearts, how wonderful!" This modern poet, who grew up in Xiaosu Village, feels that through this way, the villagers have found their spiritual home.
All Villagers Participate
Collective Efforts to Host the Spring Festival Gala
Xiaosu Village is about 50 kilometers away from the county town, a one-hour drive. The village has more than 800 people, nearly half of whom work outside. The villagers who stay at home make a living by growing pineapples, and their lives are not affluent.
In 2009, the village built a church. The second floor of the church, which can protect against wind and rain and has extra space, gained an additional function - the rehearsal room for Xiaosu Village's Spring Festival Gala programs.
On the afternoon of January 28th, just after lunchtime, the second floor of Xiaosu Church was filled with music. Under the influence of the melody, following the rhythm, eight little girls from Xiaosu Village danced gracefully, rehearsing for the rabbit year's Spring Festival Gala dance program. Beside the eight young dancers stood a young woman, intently watching each move of the girls and occasionally making corrections.
Her name is Huang Jiajia, 19 years old, a native of Xiaosu Village, currently studying dance at the Hengyang Art School in Hunan Province.
Huang Jiajia is an enthusiastic participant in Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala. Since 2007, except for 2008 when heavy snow blocked the roads preventing her from coming back, she returns every winter vacation to participate in the Spring Festival Gala. Skilled in both singing and dancing, Huang Jiajia is a rare artistic talent in the village. In addition to choreographing programs for the village's young girls, she also performs solo acts. At the inaugural Xiaosu Spring Festival Gala in 2007, because she liked the uplifting lyrics and the undulating melody, Huang Jiajia sang the well-known singer Zhang Shaohan's representative work "Invisible Wings." In 2009 and 2010, Huang Jiajia choreographed and participated in multiple dance programs. Huang Jiajia still remembers clearly that two of the dance programs were "Gathering Joyfully" and "Good Days," expressing farmers' aspirations for a happy life.
Huang Jiajia's enthusiasm for the Spring Festival Gala has infected the younger generation in the village. Huang Jiajia told Southern Rural Newspaper reporters that as the Spring Festival approaches every year, the 10-year-old girls in Xiaosu Village would voluntarily come to her house, asking when Huang Jiajia will return. "They all love dancing; they are passionate about performing." Faced with such dedicated young ones, Huang Jiajia feels gratified and confident that Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala will continue to improve.
Being far away but still caring about the Spring Festival Gala is not limited to Huang Jiajia alone. From 2007 to the present, as the Spring Festival approaches, the Xiaosu people working or studying outside would return successively, pooling their efforts to bring Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala to its climax.
Xiaosu Spring Festival Gala Becomes a Brand
Attracts Sponsorships from All Sides
This year marks the fifth time hosting the Spring Festival Gala, and for the experienced Xiaosu villagers, it has become a routine task.
"Money is not a problem." Including costs for lighting, instruments, sound systems, makeup, etc., organizing a Spring Festival Gala in Xiaosu Village requires approximately 16,000 yuan. Voluntary fundraising among the villagers has become the primary source of funds, "those who can afford it donate over a thousand yuan, generally one person donates 200 yuan, fifty people donating solves the problem."
Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala has received financial support from the government. In 2007, Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala lacked a stage, so the villagers had to use several tables to form a makeshift "stage." Afterwards, Xiaosu villagers applied to relevant departments in Zhanjiang City for "support." Soon, the Xuzhou County Government allocated 20,000 yuan, allowing Xiaosu Village to own a professional disassemblable stage.
The programs of Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala are rich and varied, including solo dances, group dances, solo songs, chorus, crosstalk, skits, martial arts, instrumental performances, fashion shows... almost every kind of art performance can find its place on Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala.
In Huang Sanshu's view, who has been the host of the Spring Festival Gala for four consecutive years, Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala is not merely an entertainment evening but also a cultural platform to promote truth, goodness, and beauty to the villagers. Due to his high level of education and good eloquence, Huang Sanshu was selected by the villagers as the host of Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala. According to him, all programs of Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala undergo prior "review," and only those with healthy content gain the qualification to be performed on stage.
"We advocate no gambling, respecting elders, protecting the environment, and maintaining harmony between couples, and the program content should align with these values." According to Huang Sanshu, since the birth of Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala, he has felt a significant improvement in Xiaosu Village's social atmosphere.
On the afternoon of January 28th, a local villager happily informed Southern Rural Newspaper reporters that even before the start of the 2011 Rabbit Year Spring Festival Gala, Xiaosu Village had already received more than ten thousand yuan in sponsorship fees from a company in Huizhou, Guangdong.
Spring Festival Gala Turns into Disaster Relief Charity Performance
Cultural Heritage Awaits Continuation
When talking about Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala, one cannot bypass Huang Xincheng.
Huang Xincheng is 27 years old. In his eyes, the Spring Festival in Xiaosu Village once lacked the festive atmosphere. During the Spring Festival, the villagers would gather together to play mahjong, some even gambled. One day in early February 2007, Huang Xincheng received a call from a fellow villager working outside, asking if any activities could be organized during the Spring Festival in the village. Immediately, a plan formed in Huang Xincheng's mind: to organize a Spring Festival Gala for the farmers themselves, or even a karaoke competition. This would promote a healthy cultural lifestyle and help change the bad habits of Xiaosu villagers.
As the Spring Festival approached that year, Huang Xincheng returned to the village. He shared his idea of hosting a Spring Festival Gala with the villagers, which was immediately approved. Many villagers donated money voluntarily, accumulating over 7,000 yuan in no time. Subsequently, fellow villagers Huang Lihai, Huang Lijun, Huang Xinshu, Wu Wenhuan, and others joined, jointly planning the Spring Festival Gala. With strong support from the villagers, despite the snow disaster that prevented some out-of-town villagers from returning home, Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala in 2008 was still enthusiastically held. More proudly, that Rat Year's Spring Festival Gala turned into a charity event. Due to the severe freezing disaster in northern Guangdong at the time, the villagers actively donated to the disaster areas during the gala, totaling over 6,000 yuan. Later, representatives from Xiaosu Village delivered the donations to the disaster victims in northern Guangdong, becoming a touching story.
Huang Xincheng has a wish; he hopes that Xiaosu's Spring Festival Gala can continue to be held, preserving its rural characteristics and showcasing rural culture, becoming a cultural brand for Xiaosu Village. They will never forget that on the second day of the first lunar month in 2007, the threshing ground of Xiaosu Village was crowded with audiences from Xiaosu Village and surrounding towns. That night, thousands of viewers braved the cold wind to watch the four-hour program. At that moment, Huang Xincheng deeply realized that the Spring Festival Gala in his hometown is their spiritual home.